Kristan Otto

Born: July 7, 1945
Died: April 1, 2020
Age at Death: 74 years

Kristan was born July 7, 1945 to John and Barbara Ross Otto Sacramento. She died peacefully after a long illness on April Fool’s Day. She graduated from McClatchy High School & the University of California, Davis with a BA in Economics and Political Science.

Kristan worked as a stockbroker in San Francisco right after collage and saved enough money to travel the world for two years. She worked in stock exchanges in Bangkok, Zurich and Sydney. During that trip, along with many great as well as scary experiences in places like Pakistan and Vietnam, she even made money selling bibles in India. When she returned, Kristan again worked for various finance industry firms before founding her Commercial Real Estate and Development firm, The Ross Company. One of her proudest accomplishments was developing Valley Oaks Senior Housing in Galt, which provided low-income housing for seniors. In 2000, Kristan was the selected to head the new Citywide Economy Development Branch of Sacramento's Economic Development Department. She later operated a landscape business under Kristan Otto Group.

Like her parents and other siblings, Kristan took active leadership roles with many community organizations and boards including the Sacramento Board of Realtors, National Association of Women in Commercial Real Estate, SACTO, Sacramento Metro, Metro Soroptimist, both City of Rocklin and Sacramento County Planning Commissions and Junior Achievement. More recently Kristan served as a member of the CADA Board, Sacramento Public Library Foundation, Crocker Art Museum, and Sacramento SPCA.

One of Kristan’s great passions was travel – she went everywhere and did everything. She loved crossword puzzles, scrabble, bridge, was an avid reader, art collector. She enjoyed movies, plays, and music and the outdoors. In recent years, she became proficient at shot put and competed in many meets (in the “senior division” – so she could win without much competition). But most of all, Krislan loved horses and dogs. She rode like She lived: fearlessly and beautifully – which accounted for many and oven serious injuries. While she loved, and visited most major cities in the world, she truly loved peace she found at her Loomis horse ranch, at the cabin on the river at Strawberry and her beautiful eclectic art-filled home in Campus Commons.

She was preceded in death by her mother, Barbara Ross Otto, her father, John F. Otto, and her brother Carl Otto as well as several horses and dogs, especially Maybeline, Annie and Nikita. She is survived by her sisters, Marna Salazar (Paul) and Linda Otto-Robertson (Chuck); brother, Johan Otto (Anne), her sister-in-law Carol Otto and numerous nieces and nephews as well as Jack (her horse), Scruffy and Jeff (her dogs) and many many friends. We will miss her laughter, humor, and hair (you could always find her in a crowd).

Kristan was definitely one-of-a-kind. She was generous, loyal, funny, very very outspoken, and the most independent woman. She was so Strong — Witness her surviving multiple cancers, illnesses and accidents. Kristan is now unfettered and free to soar without pain or fear of anyone her ‘no’. Sacramento will miss her!

The family requests memorial donations in Kristan’s name be made to Crocker Art Museum, 216 O Street, Sacramento, CA 95814, Northern California Construction Training (NCCT), PO Box 2935585, Sacramento, CA 95829 or to an organization of  your choice.

55th Year Reunion